Frank Ludwig Weichman

The Weichman family is very sad to report that Frank Ludwig Weichman, 86 years old, died suddenly Thursday, November 10, 2016 in his home.

Born in Germany, raised in Holland, and educated in New York, Frank received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University near Chicago, and joined the University of Alberta's Department of Physics in 1958. In the late 1990's, a few years after he retired, Frank became a founding board member of iHuman, a non-profit organization that supports at-risk youth through the arts. Frank loved the city of Edmonton. He was an active member of the McKernan community and a committed advocate of the expansion of the City of Edmonton's Light Rail Transit system.

Frank was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, teacher, environmentally conscious inventor, colleague, friend, and neighbor. He was a visible presence in the community, bicycling everywhere through town, and particularly enjoyed "hopping on the Slurt" (South LRT) if the biking distance was too great. He enjoyed his daily morning tea and conversation at the physics department, maintaining his vegetable garden, shopping at the Farmer's Market, and heading to his wilderness lakeshore cabin north of Edmonton on the weekends. Frank brought energy, commitment, wisdom, curiosity, strong conviction, and, yes, a little eccentricity and playfulness, to his family life, academic work, volunteer commitments, and world travels. As a family member described him in a letter dating back to 1946 when he was just a 16 year old survivor of the Holocaust in Amsterdam, "Frank is Puck with a Talmudic soul."

A gathering of reminiscence is planned for next spring at McKernan Community Hall with the date and time to be announced. We respectfully request no flowers, and donations are not encouraged, but if you feel the need, please consider supporting iHuman (ihuman.org).

Frank was predeceased by his wife of 54 years, Jean, in 2012. Frank is survived by daughter Jo Leibovitz of Ottawa, son Peter Weichman and his wife Janice of Bedford, Massachusetts, and four grandchildren, Marissa Weichman, Benjamin Weichman, Nikita Leibovitz, and Keara.